Finnish publishing house Art House Ltd recently released collections of Jeff Hawke and Judge Dredd newspaper strips.
Released through the publisher’s Jalava imprint in August, Jeff Hawke: Ylivaltias (“Jeff Hawke: Overlord”), includes six adventures by Willie Patterson and Sydney Jordan, translated by Asko Alanen and Saulfirst Santikko, first published in the Daily Express in the early 1960s. None of the strips featured have previously been published in collection in Finland.
Published in the Daily Express between 1955 and 1974, “Jeff Hawke” is an intelligent, original and insightful science fiction strip, centred on a former RAF pilot who handles the tricky business of space administration in a then future England. Written for an adult audience, it’s remarkable in the respect that the creators did not usually use violence to solve problems. The series is still very popular in France, Italy and Scandinavia.
“Jeff Hawke” was created by Sydney Jordan together with his friends, Eric Souster and Jim Gilbert, all three former RAF pilots themselves.
This isn’t Jeff Hawke’s first outing in Finland. Back in the 1980s, Kustannus Oy Jalava published three now much-sought after Jeff Hawke albums, which can command high prices among collectors.
“Kukaan ei pakene lakia, punk!”
The Judge Dredd collection – Judge Dredd – Kuoleman morsian (“Judge Dredd – Bride of Death”) includes four strips written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, with art by Ian Gibson, Steve Dillon, Mick McMahon and Ron Smith.
Kustannus Oy Jalava previously published 30 Judge Dredd albums, and Dredd was the star of his own comics magazine in Finland in the 1980s and 1990s. Now the legendary 2000AD star has returned to the Nordic country, because as Dredd himself has stated, “you can’t escape the law!”
Judge Dredd – Kuoleman morsian features four large black-and-white newspaper adventures and four Saturday strips, originally published in the Daily Star in the UK the 1980s – none of them published in Finnish before.
Art House Ltd is a publishing house founded in 1975 by Paavo Haavikko, a Finnish poet of international recognition (Neustadt International Prize for Literature, 1984). They publish approximately 50 titles per year. Art House Ltd owns imprints called Jalava and Tietosanoma, which have different publishing profiles.
Under the Jalava imprint, their strip collections include Flash Gordon, Modesty Blaise and Tarzan albums, among others.
• Jeff Hawke: Ylivaltias can be ordered from Art House webshop here | ISBN: 9789518876789
• Read a review of Jeff Hawke: Ylivaltias in Finnish here
• Read an enthusiastic review of Judge Dredd – Kuoleman morsian in Finnish here
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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